A Vital Partner: The United Federation of Teachers

It’s not the smoothest time for teacher unions these days. They’re a a pretty easy target when people wring their hands about the state of K-12 public education. But, hey, what would their critics do without them. Who would they have to criticize and blame? (The answer is: teacher colleges and school boards, in case you haven’t heard.)

If you look around at most of the arts education programs nationally, you will find that the local teachers union is rarely part of the project. I believe that most people tend to view these unions solely through the lens of labor issues. And in an era when charter schools are the simple answer for many, many people, the teachers unions are in a difficult spot public-relations wise.

We have a slightly different perspective. This Saturday, The Center for Arts Education is presenting the first of three city-wide professional development conferences in partnership with the United Federation of Teachers Teacher Center (UFTTC). The UFTTC Teacher Center is the long-standing educational arm of the local New York City teachers union: The United Federation of Teachers. This first conference will focus on the integration of the arts, grades K-5.

Our colleagues at the UFTTC refer to this as a professional teacher conference.

The second conference in February will focus on arts education curricula and resources grade K-12. The final conference for this year, in May, will look at Career Readiness and Awareness Through the Arts, Grades 6-12.

Partnering with the teachers union is an easy call for me. First, they helped to found The Center for Arts Education, being incredibly supportive from the very first moment. Second, we’ve worked with them in an assortment of ways over the years, including partnering with them to create our Promising Practices publication in 1999. Lately, they’ve become an important partner in our advocacy work. Third, perhaps most important, is that we believe the best route to working with teachers in a school system that is becoming increasingly decentralized, is to find the pathway right to the teachers. What could be a better way than through the educational arm of the UFT, which has provided a wide range or professional development and support for teachers and para professionals for many, many years.

Moreover, these partnerships are expanding to include NYSUT, the state-wide teachers union in New York, as well as the American Federation of Teachers, which is the national union for the UFT and other local AFT chapters across the country.

I have been to just a few conference on arts education over the years. What I have found is that the number of school teachers and administrators that attend is always very, very small. So, the thought of working directly with teachers through their union holds great promise for connecting with the teachers without having to depend on the school district for access.

What has it been like to work with them you may be wondering? I cannot say thank them enough. The two point people we’ve been dealing with at the UFTTC, Aminda Gentile, who runs the UFT Teacher Center, and Roberto Benetiz, our liason (he’s a former teacher and administrator) are huge champions of the arts and have rolled up their sleeves to get our conferences, which I view as a beginning, off the ground.

I should also mention that the UFT has a new President: Michael Mulgrew. His pathway from professional carpenter, to Career and Technical Education Teacher, to union leader, gives him a very strong understanding and appreciation of the arts.

I am looking forward very much to this first conference on Saturday morning at the UFT Headquarters in Lower Manhattan…

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Richard Kessler

Dewey21C

is a blog dedicated to the belief that the arts are part of our genetic code. The belief that the arts are in the DNA of every person, and that our job as teachers, parents, mentors, advocates, and administrators is to provide quality, sustained arts … [Read More...]

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For those who have followed Dewey21C, hopefully you’ve noticed that I have been silent since the end of July. A month off from work followed that last post, and as we’re blowing through September, I have started a new chapter in my career as Dean of the Mannes College The New School for Music.

It’s not all that often that one gets a month off. It was a month that I viewed as time to leave behind the past seven years at The Center for Arts Education, while clearing my mind for the very new challenge of leading a music conservatory that is part of a fairly unorthodox university (The New School). It didn’t hurt that one of the founders of The New School, and father of its initial educational design was none other than John Dewey.

There is so much that I want to share about these early days in my tenure. I thought it would be a good call to start with something that had that sort of cold water in the face feel as soon as arrived at The New School.

In K-12, the pathway to college is and has been for many years the brass ring. Ten years ago it was simply getting students to college. For arts educators, we were being asked what we were doing to increase the high school graduation rates, with the presumption that graduates would move along to college at increasing rates, in addition to simply ensuring a higher high school graduation rate and all that it implies. Slowly it became about college and career readiness, which is the key frame for the Common Core Standards. What should a student know and be able to do in college and career. One way or the other, K-12 policy has been about getting more and more students to college, even if remediation rates are alarmingly high.

At the very same time, higher education is under fire. In almost every respect higher education is being challenged, whether it’s on the basis of cost, design, relevancy, etc.

Some say it’s better to attend DIY college. Others question the value of the degree altogether. It’s too expensive. It’s too abstract. The model is busted. There is no accountability. There is no data. It is hand cuffed by tenure and unions. Freshman enrollment is down. Students are taking longer to graduate.

Naturally, the above includes just a few issues in common with K-12.

You have to admit, at the very least, how fascinating it is to witness a sort of accountability movement in higher education, one which at time calls to question fundamental value, while at the very same time, most of K-12 policy continues to triangulate on moving students to college.

For me, at my new position, there is one particular question from K-12 that I find to be the perfect lens to peer through: what should a graduate know and be able to do. It is through that particular frame that I believe assessment and improvement is possible at my new job.